My Birding Goals - Updated August 21, 2025

As an eBird user, I get easy access to all sorts of birding statistics. The ones I care about most are in bold below.

Canadian Regions

My most ambitious goal is 50 species in all 294 of Canada's eBird regions. Regions such as those in Nunavut and Nunatsiavut-Nain in Labrador are unreachable by road, but that just means more wildnerness exploration! The most challenging province is Quebec because it has so many regions - more than twice as many as any other province!

Canada: 206 of 294 eBird regions with life list at 50+ (70%)

Number of eBird Regions with life list at 50+:

  • British Columbia: 28 of 28
  • Alberta: 19 of 19
  • Saskatchewan: 18 of 18
  • Manitoba: 23 of 23
  • Ontario: 50 of 50
  • Quebec: 19 of 103
  • New Brunswick: 15 of 15
  • Nova Scotia: 18 of 18
  • Prince Edward Island: 3 of 3
  • Newfoundland & Labrador: 10 of 11
  • Yukon: 1 of 1
  • Northwest Territories: 2 of 2
  • Nunavut: 0 of 3

Another statistic I monitor that is not tracked by eBird is the sum of my Canadian region lists (the sum of my lists in Hastings County Ontario, Northumberland County Ontario, Central Coast BC, Calgary Alberta, and all other regions). I was pleased when this number exceeded 10,000 in 2021 and 15,000 in 2025. I look forward to the next milestone - 20,000!

Sum of Canadian Region Life Lists: 15,742

Sum of Region Ticks:

  • British Columbia: 1844
  • Alberta: 1377
  • Saskatchewan: 1260
  • Manitoba: 1580
  • Ontario: 4437
  • Quebec: 2156
  • New Brunswick: 997
  • Nova Scotia: 964
  • Prince Edward Island: 219
  • Newfoundland & Labrador: 627
  • Yukon: 119
  • Northwest Territories: 152
  • Nunavut: 10

Canadian Provinces & Territories

My goal is 200 species in every Canadian province and 100 species in every territory. Nunavut is a challenge I relish!

Life Lists:

  • British Columbia: 241
  • Alberta: 207
  • Saskatchewan: 202
  • Manitoba: 239
  • Ontario: 303
  • Quebec: 195
  • New Brunswick: 172
  • Nova Scotia: 155
  • Prince Edward Island: 109
  • Newfoundland & Labrador: 135
  • Yukon: 119
  • Northwest Territories: 113
  • Nunavut: 9

I also have a goal to get the sum of provincial and territorial life lists over 2600 (for an average of more than 200 per province or territory).

Sum of Canadian Province/Territory Life Lists: 2199

Canada

My goal is 429 species in my home country of Canada, so that my Canada life exceeds my United States life list, which stands at 428.

Canada Life List: 411

Ontario

My goal is 350 species in my home province of Ontario.

Ontario Life List: 303

Local Ontario Counties

I live in Hastings County, Ontario and my goal is to get as many species in Hastings and all nearby counties. Now that these four counties are at 200, I am working on getting the next closest counties to 100 and getting the total of my four "home counties" to 1000:

Ontario County Life Lists:

  • Prince Edward: 262
  • Hastings: 232
  • Northumberland: 230
  • Lennox & Addington: 219
  • TOTAL: 943

Yard

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, I decided to focus on seeing as many birds as possible on my property. I don't get many birds near my house because I live in the city and don't have feeders, but my deck overlooks the river so I get swimmers such as geese and ducks and flybys such as gulls and the occasional tern or osprey.

Some top target birds for my yardlist are Sandhill Crane, Golden Eagle, and hawks.

Yard Life List: 89 (Most recent additions: Least Flycatcher on May 15, 2024; Greater White-fronted Goose on December 19, 2023)